Louver construction



United States "Patent inventor Georges Marceau Audeval Montreal North,Quebec, Canada Appl. No. 761,251 Filed Sept. 20, 1968 Patented Dec. 1,1970 Assignee Integrated Lighting Limited Montreal, Quebec, CanadaPriority June 24, 1968 Canada No. 023,387

LOUVER CONSTRUCTION 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

us. 0. 240/78, i 240/9 1 Int. Cl. FZls 3/00 Field of Search 240/9, E78(LD7 [S6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,939,543 6/1960Zingone 240/9X 3,033,979 5/1962 Cahill 240/9 3,050,162 8/1962 Zingone240/78X FOREIGN PATENTS 861,088 12/1952 Germany 240/78 PrimaryExaminer-John M. Horan Assistant Examiner-Michael Harris Attorney-Smart& Biggar PATENTED HEB! BTU SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR GEORGES MARCEAU AUDEVALBy gm+figy A TTORNEYS 1. Field of the Invention The present inventionrelates generally to a louver construction for ceilings or otherpurposes, and more particularly to a simplified louver constructioncomprising parallel support runners and rows of light-diffusing panelsadapted to be supported on adjacent pairs of the runners for quick andeasy installation and subsequent removal.

While high levels of illumination have been achieved with high-intensitylight sources, such as fluorescent lamps, it has been necessary tocontrol the brightness and glare to provide visual comfort. This hasbeen accomplished with light diffusing means, such as false ceilingsprovided with louver'constructions formed from a plurality of lightdiffusing panels, baffles or grids. Each panel may be a cellular oreggcrate construction comprising a latticework arrangement ofintersecting ribs which may be open through the top and bottom. Light ispermitted to pass directly downwardly through the cells formed by theintersection of ribs, however, when viewed from an angle, the ribs ofthepanels block direct light so that much of the light observed isdeflected or diffused light. The light-diffusing panels may, forexample, be square or rectangular units about 2 feet across and may besupported in edge-toedge relation to form a louver construction falseceiling that extends across the entire room from wall to wall, or acrossonly a portion of the ceiling area. It is desirable that some, if notall, of the panels be individually removable with facility to affordaccess to the area above the false ceiling and particularly to the lightfixtures. It is also desirable that the meeting or joining lines betweenadjacent panels be as inconspicuous or unnoticable as possible to createthe illusion of an unbroken latticework arrangement of intersecting ribsacross the entireceiling area.

In addition to these requirements, it is most important to be able toinstall these panels quickly and easily, without special tools orskills, and with a minimum of support structure. It is also desirable,of course, that the panels be relatively simple and economical tomanufacture and assemble.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior light-diffusing panel louverceiling constructions have not been fully satisfactory. Some priorconstructions, whilev being simple, have been difficult, time consuming,and costly to properly install and/or have not permitted rapid and easyremoval of individual parts. Further, light leaks between adjacentpanels have often been present, creating distractions and impairing thecontinuous uniform appearance of the ceiling. Other constructions havebeen excessively complicated and costly to manufacture and installand/or have not afforded ready removal of individual parts. Inparticular, support structures for the panels have been complicated,difficult to install and to connect to the panels, and requiredparticular tools and/or skills for the installation. Some of the currentlight-diffusing panels employ the trackless construction which meansthat there are no apparent support runners. This is as opposed toconstructions using inverted T-shaped suspension members or the like.The current trackless louver suspension systems have a relativelystraight line of abutment between adjacent panels alongthe suspensionmember and thus any slight gaps between the abutting panels show-up as;a

line of light'and thus uniform light diffusion is interrupted.

The present louver suspension systems place the support means or runnersoutside 'the endmost ribs of the panels in'engagement with projectingportions of the. ribs-which are at right angles to said endmost ribs andtherefore the dimensions of the panel must not exceed given amounts ifsagging of the.

manufacturing, packaging,'handling, installing, and maintain-.

ing the suspension points orthe points atfvliich the ribs interengagewith the support means may not hold their relation-' ship to one anotherthereby making it difficultto insert the projecting ends of the ribsinto the slots in the support runners. Additionally, the angle of lightreflectance from bent projections causes the projections to take oneither a lighter or darker shadowing than the balance of the louverblades, seriously impairing the overallappearance of the ceiling,

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention contemplates alight-diffusing panel louver construction which is simple and economicalto manufacture and install, which provides quick and easy removal ofindividual panels and which'creates the illusion of a continuous louverceiling because there is uniform light diffusion over the whole of itssurface.

In a louver construction in accordance with the invention, there isprovided elongate, spaced, parallel support runners adapted to besupported below a ceiling carrying a light source; light-diffusingpanels adapted to be mounted on said support runners, each panelcomprising an incomplete latticework arrangement of intersecting ribs,said runners being of the same thickness as said ribs, two opposed endsof said panel having endmost ribs, such engagement occurring at adistance inside said endmost ribs which is equal to oris a multiple ofthe distance between adjacent ribs, said runners when engaged with thepanel, completing the latticework arrangement and extending beyond edgesof the panel to complete the incomplete latticework arrangements in atleast two adjacent panels, means for suspending said runners beinglocated on the runners at locations which correspond to an edge of apanel to enableassembly of a plurality of such panels and runners incoplanar relationship.

Installation of current panels is very often difficult because some ofthe projecting ribs adapted to intersect with and interengage thesupport runners become bent or twisted, thus preventing proper alinementIn the panel according to the present invention, the suspension pointsor the points at which the ribs are to interengage the support runnersare inside the endmost ribs and therefore are not subject to this sortof damage. The relatively fixed position of the suspension points alsofacilitates installation. I This invention possesses many otheradvantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearlyapparent from a consideration of a form .in which it may be embodied,but it is to be understood that the detailed description of this form isnotto be taken in a limiting sense. This form is shown in theaccompanying drawings. It-will now be described in detail,'for thepurpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention.

BRIEF DECRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a panel madein accordance with the invention; and v FIG. 2 is an explodedperspective view of adjacent panels and a support runner made inaccordance with the invention.

DESGRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS the'panels intheadjacent rows,shown in phantom in FIG. 1 at 208; Each panel is comprised of anincomplete latticework arrangement.ofintersecting ribs 30 and 32 whichinterengage the support runners 26 whereby the panel is supported.

The ends of the ribs 30, 32 terminated at different points lengthwiseand crosswise of a panel to mate with ribs of adjacent panels and withthe support runners to provide continuity in the latticework arrangementbetween adjacent baffles andto avoid the straight line light leaksbetween adjacent panels as described above. The support runners 26 arethe same thickness as the ribs and extend beyond the edges of the panelto complete the incomplete latticework arrangements in -The embodimentshown and described is a preferred form of the invention and it is to be.understood that the panels 28 could also be rectangularin shape withoutdeparting from the invention.

In the embodiment shown, a t'ongue-and-groove arrangement is providedwherein each support runner passes through the tongue 40 and across thegroove 42 ofadjacent'panels 28.

In this arrangement the length of the runners 26 exceedsthe width of thepanel 28 and thus not only supports adjacent panels A indicated bythetongue-and-groove configuration but also abutting panels 208. Eachrunner thus completes the latticework arrangement in its 'own plus threeother panels- Each-ofthe support runner's has-spaced.verticalslots 34(FIG. 2) extending downwardly from its upper edgeto about its midpoint.Each runner 26v also includes apertures 36 ad-' jacent to its upper edgeto receivethe lower ends of a suspension means, such as wires 38. (FIG.2) or the like, supporting the runners,'the upper ends of the suspensionmeans being secured'to eyes (not shown) fixed to the permanent ceiling.To enable assembly of a plurality of panels 'and runners in coplanarrelationship, each of the apertures 36 must be located on the runners at'a location which corresponds to an edge of a panel; The vertical slots34 in the runners receive ribs 30 of the panels, and thereby support thepanels on the runners.

A louver construction will normally be made up of a number oflight-diffusing panels 28. i Y

The ribs 30,32 are slotted in a known manner so as to interengage withone another to form a latticework arrangement of intersecting ribs. Ofcourse, if it is desirable from an aestheticor design point of view,.thelower edges of the ribs of the intermediate portions of the panels;

The installed louver ceiling construction thus conveys the illusion ofcontinuity in both directions by virtue of the continuous, regularlyspaced series of longitudinally extending ribs or strips 30 and supportrunners 26, and the continuous regularly spaced series of transverselyextending ribs or strip's'3 2? Any one of the panels 28 may be readilyremovedby lifting upwardly from the support runners 26 and tilting it-topermit its lowering through the space it occupied between adjacentsupport runners 26 and adjacentpanels Thus a louver construction hasbeen provided which is particularly simple toinstall without'thenecessity of special tools orskills,"and in which any one of the panelsmay be quickly and easily removed when desired; At the same time, anillusion of continuity is provided of the entire area of the louverceiling.

Unlike other current trackless louver suspensionsystems,

the system described above could successfully emplo the use oflight-diffusing plastic panels on top of t e pane s 28 by trimming theplastic panels to the tongue-and-groove shape of the panels 28 and byrestricting therib projections to one-half cell. This would changethelouver from an-open ended cellular construction to a closed cellularconstruction.

lclaim: I

1. In a louver construction, elongate, spaced, parallel support runnersadapted to be supported below a ceiling; lightdiffusing panels removablymounted on said support runners; each panel comprising an incompletelatticework arrangement of intersecting ribs, said runners being of thesame I thickness as said ribs, two opposed ends of said panel beingendmost ribs, said runners engaging the ribs which intersect theendmost'ribs,such engagement occuring at a distance inside said endmostribs whichis equal to or is a multiple of a may be provided withprojections and recesses so as to give metal and the slots are made veryslightly shallower than one distancebetween adjacent ribs, said runners'when engaged .with the panel completing the latticework arrangement andextending beyond edges of the panel to completethe incompletelatticework arrangements in at least two adjacent panels, for means forsuspending said runners being located on the runners at locations whichcorrespond to an edge of a panel to enable assembly of a plurality ofsuch panels and runners in coplanar relationship.

2. A louver construction according to claim 1, wherein said panel isformed at one of said two opposed ends with a projechalf the heightof'thev ribs 30, 32 which they respectively receive, so that the ribsare interconnected by a press fit which serves to displace metal andprovide a relatively permanent connection between the ribs.Alternatively, if desired, the strips may beinterconnectedpermanentlyas, for example, by means of welding. v j

The runners 26 engagethe ribs 30' with intersect the endmost of t4theribs 32. The engagement may occur at a distance inside the endmost ofthe ribs 32 which is equal to oris a multiple of the distance betweenadjacent ribs. lf comparatively long panels are to be used, then it isrecommended that the runners 26 be a number 'of cell widths inside theendmost of the ribs 32 to reduce the span between them and avoid saggingtion of said latticework and at the other of said ends with a recess insaid latticework whereby a tongueand groove arrangement is formed.

3. A louver construction according to claim 2, wherein said runnerpasses through said projection of one panel and across said recess of anadjacent panel.

4. A louver construction according to claim 1, wherein each of saidpanels has certain of its "ribs freely extending beyond the edgesthereof and adapted to abut and aline with freely extending ribs ofadjacent panels thereby to create the illusion of I a continuouslatticework arrangement of intersecting ribs between adjacent panels.

